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Hermano’s 15th Birthday

April 30, 2012 · by Ari ·

The only thing sure to make you feel older than getting older yourself, is seeing people you’ve known their entire lives get older! How is my brother 15?!?!?!

This is the face of a 15 year old. A 15 year old who needs a hair cut.

To celebrate, Hermano, Steve, my dad and I all went to Dave & Busters. My family is huge on games, and honestly we could mostly care less about tickets and prizes–we just want to play everything all day long! We started with the electronic jump rope.

Look at my dad's face. Priceless.

We also played air hockey.

I am serious about my air hockey. I do not like to lose.

Did that game where you try to get your ball into the “run” section and not the “move a micro inch” sections.

We spent the larger part of the afternoon there hanging out and having fun before coming back to my house for dessert. Today is Hermano’s actual birthday, but he is living it up in California with his mom and their fancy birthday trip. Thanks for the invite. Some brother you are ๐Ÿ˜‰

I feel really lucky to have this guy in my life. There is something really cool about the sibling relationship when you have a wide age gap. Most of the time, I’d rather hang out with him than most people my age. Hermano is hilarious, smart (even when he pretends not to be), kind, and patient. Kinda the opposite of what you’d expect from a super talented, well liked teenager. I couldn’t be prouder of the young man (weird–I still think of him as a toddler) he’s become! Feliz cuplianos Hermano!!

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: birthdays, dave & busters, family, hermano

Mostly Happy Things

April 28, 2012 · by Ari ·

Hi friends, happy weekend! The past few days have been filled with lots of things. Mostly happy things. And a few annoying things. I’ve been posting lots of recipes lately, and I kinda miss the whole writing about little things in my life just because they’re important to me thing, so that’s what I’m going to do today. ๐Ÿ™‚

Annoying Things:

There are less of these and they’re less fun. Let’s get them out of the way first. shall we?

  1. Yesterday, Steve, Dan and I set out for a 30 mile bike loop this morning. Around mile 10, Steve got a flat that he fixed, then broke the new tube, then patched. At mile 15, his tire went flat again. I was the only one that had their phone, so we called my step dad (Thanks Hank!! You’re awesome!!) to come get him, and Dan and I set back to finish the loop. At mile 25ish, I got a flat tire. No joke. Dan went back to the house, and Hank came back to get me too. It was not so fun, but it could have been a lot worse. I have a whole list of people that would come rescue me in an emergency, so I’m just gonna try to count my blessings.
  2. Friday I had to stop and use the bathroom mid run at this really sketchy dry cleaners. The toilet had no lid and no flusher, so I had to reach into the open top to flush, but then there wasn’t enough water and so I had to use the hose that went into the toilet. The whole thing was so odd.
  3. The fro yo place is not open at 9:30 am. In fact, they don’t open until 11am. Now, if you ask me, that is just ridiculous.

Happy Things:
So many happy things! It’s been a pretty great week, in fact!

  1. I got someย really great news from my amazing friend Emily that totally blew me away. I feel so honored and lucky to be working in such a supportive environment with some truly amazing friends.
  2. I got all of my fundraising letter sent out! I’m still waiting on some addresses (by the way if I asked for your address and you thought you were getting a super awesome present, I’m sorry about that…), and I have a lot of work to do in terms of getting business donations, but I spent hours (with the help, of course, of my super amazing husband) writing, addressing, labeling, stamping, and stuffing envelopes. I actually kind of enjoyed the whole process. Don’t forget, if you’d like to donate, you can visit my page here ๐Ÿ™‚
  3. I found out I won’t be running alone for those 4.5 hours. I can’t say more than that until a very special person gives her own news, but I am beyond excited!
  4. I had a super awesome taper week “long” run with Stacey on Friday! She did a legit long run, and accomplished her first double digit run at a pretty quick pace! I love running with her, and I am so proud of her! PS, she is running her first half marathon next Sunday. Be sure to head over to her blog and wish her good luck!
  5. I ran with Jason on Monday while he accomplished a new PDR of 5 miles! Remember back in February when our runs consisted of a max running time of 3 minutes before taking a walk break? Now he runs 5 miles with no breaks. Think you can’t run? This guy’s progress could inspire anyone to get out there and give it a shot! 3 minutes to 5 miles in 2 months? Ummm, OKAY!
  6. Monday is Hermano’s birthday! He’s turning 15, and is kinda my favorite person on Earth. This also means he is only one year away from being able to drive me around all the time. It’s going to be awesome. “Hermano, take me to the store.” “Hermano, bring me some Dutch Brothers!” We celebrated yesterday. I’ll be writing about it soon.
  7. Last night I went to a fancy gaala! I drank wine, ate food, and pretended I was rich enough to bid on items. Molly and I really wanted the pop corn machine, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. My favorite part was that they described it as “A popping good time!” Yes, I would like a popping good time. How did you know??
  8. MY BFFFF Heather got my subscription to Eating Well magazinefor the holidays/my birthday/running, and the first one came in the mail this week! Thanks Heath!!! Love you!!
  9. I got 3 walks in with the duckies this week with Nicole and Kara. Duck lake is especially pretty these days. It looks like fall and there are all sorts of purple leaves:

    DUCKIES!!!!


  10. This happened:

    Yes, Winston is laying directly on top of Clementine. He is so rude!

  11. Friday I went to work and received these:

    My favorite part is where she writes "Don't worry if you cry. I actually cried too." Obviously these kids know me well, and just how sentimental I am. I totally cried.

Now if that doesn’t make you smile, I don’t even know what to tell you!

What made you happy this week??

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: duck pond, family.chances for children, friends, hermano, life, steve, work

Mac Visits: Day 2

March 16, 2012 · by Ari ·

I hope you realize that if you ever want to come and visit me, a few things will happen.

  1. I will cook you lots and lots of food, most of which will be “Skinnified”.
  2. You will get dog hair all over you. The thing is, unless I vacuum every surface of my house 10x a day, followed by some good old lint rolling, Winston’s hair will win this battle, so I have just kind of learned to live with it. Things to consider before taking up an offer to hang on my couch/air mattress.
  3. You will get forced encouraged into workouts you probably never wanted to do have been dying to try! A few friends can attest to this.

Mac and I started our Thursday morning with spin class! I snuck him into the gym while rude girl wasn’t looking. Take that rude girl! HAH! Then we did some strength training (that’s twice in one week, friends!!), and went into class. I used to take Amanda’s Thursday class pretty regularly, but then I started taking Thursdays as a rest day and became pretty dedicated to Linda, you know my spin teacher bff that doesn’t even know my name, but I think she’s so cool! Well, I was surprised when a new teacher walked in and announced she’d be subbing.

This teacher, Jenna, was ridiculous! Awesome. but ridiculous. Imagine 80s workout video (ie: Suzanne Summers) meets spin class. She was overly enthusiastic, but it was cracking me up more than annoying me and her class kicked my butt! The only thing that bothered me was that she never told us where to be gear wise. She just kept saying things like “Bump it up!” “More gears!!” Well I realized pretty quickly, when I was at gear 24 (the highest the bike goes) and she was still telling people to add gears, that perhaps I wasn’t quite understanding what she meant. Part of my brain spent a lot of class stressing about how I couldn’t be sure if I was doing it right, but tried my best to just enjoy the class and not worry about being “right”. Easier said than done for this type A personality. I ended the class a sweaty mess, and I definitely felt like I got a great workout!

After class, we cleaned ourselves up then went to meet my dad and Hermano at Golf Land for some mini golf! I am so bad at mini golf, but I’ve always really loved it. Mac and I started talking in the parking lot about how neither of us are very good at mini golf, so we’re not as competitive as usual–we only like to actually put forth competitive effort with things we are skilled in, otherwise it can be embarrassing ๐Ÿ˜‰ I also mentioned how my dad and Hermano are both super competitive just like us, and within minutes of playing my dad was haggling me like the opposing team at a sports game!

The funniest part is that my dad is actually really good at mini golf, but he looks absolutely ridiculous! He gets in this deep squat and takes what feels like hours to make his turn. It was cracking me up, but apparently it worked because he won with a 45! I came in second, then Hermano, and Mac got an honorable 4th place ๐Ÿ™‚

The dragon!! This hole used to scare the crap out of me as a kid!

I used to hate this one! Hermano took about 15 swings hitting it everyone except where it was supposed to go. Then I schooled him and got it on my first shot. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Tick tock, tick tock.

Probably gloating his victory.

After mini golf, we grabbed some fro yo, then headed back to my place so Mac could watch the Kentucky game and I could get some work done. Then, I went out to rehearsal, and the rest of the night was pretty uneventful. We had an other super late night with a 10:30 bed time. Ummm yeah, we’re old. I should maybe be embarrassed, but I’m totally okay with it!

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: family, friends, golf land, hermano, mac, mini golf, spin

Saturday Shout Outs

March 3, 2012 · by Ari ·

I’ve decided to try out something new on the blog, and every Saturday send out some love to some awesome friends and fellow bloggers doing awesome things. There’s a few people/events I wanted to draw some attention to anyway, so I figured it might be a cool new tradition ๐Ÿ˜‰

  1. My wonderful, amazing, inspiring, and fabulous foodie blogger friend Nicole just had her appendix out, and is still making her way over to New Orleans today to walk her half marathon tomorrow! Girl just had surgery, isn’t allowed to run yet, and is staying committed to doing what she signed up for the only way she can. I’m so proud of you Nicole! Kick some butt tomorrow, and carry a drink in your hand at all times please.
  2. My cookingspiration, college bestie, and amazingly talented friend Heather just revamped her cooking blog, and started her own professional actor website! Listen friends, if you like musical theatre AT ALL, drop everything, go to her page and watch some of her videos. She is unbelievable, and she just got her first big job right out of college at the 5th Ave Theatre in Seattle which is one of the biggest regional theatres in the country and originated shows like Hairspray and The Wedding Singer that were later transferred to the b-way and became huge Tony award winning hits. I can’t wait until the day she wins a Tony and invites me as her date to the ceremony!
  3. My very favorite running blogger Ali was nominated by fitness magazine for an award for “Best Inspirational Blog” and her blog is just that. If you like running, or reading blogs in general at all, I suggest you go over and read some of her amazingness.
  4. Hermano’s band won the Battle of the Bands at Dobson High!! Their best song BY FAR was the one Hermano wrote. He is so incredibly talented and I am so proud of him!!
  5. My best friend Bethany just moved into her house!! She is officially 100% a homeowner, and I couldn’t be more proud of her. She has worked so hard to make her way into the challenging financial field, pushed herself and her knowledge, and it has finally paid off into something tangible that she absolutely deserves! Now she just needs to ditch the kitties, so that I can come over and enjoy her house too ๐Ÿ˜‰

What about you?? Who do you want to send a shout out today? Let me know so I can give them some love!!

Happy weekend everyone! Except not for me because I’m off to work, haha.

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: friends, hermano, saturday shout out

10 Years Later

February 11, 2012 · by Ari ·

10 years ago, I had my first surprise birthday party. Up until that year, I had always been very involved in planning my birthday and making it exactly the way I wanted. A month or two before I turned 17, my friends and family began asking what I wanted to do, and to every one of them, I replied “nothing”.

Sixteen was a very hard year. Maybe the hardest of my entire life. I haven’t really talked about it on here, but shortly after I turned 16, my best friend took her own life. It was not something my 16 year old self was at all prepared to deal with or knew how to handle. Less than a year later, and exactly one month before I turned 17, an other close friend took his life as well. The last thing I was in the mood to do was celebrate. I agreed to a small dinner with my family and my two closest friends (Bethany and Jason–the two that are still my best friends ten years later) at my favorite restaurant–Avanti.

That evening I arrived at dinner, and my jaw almost hit the floor. An entire long table in our own private area filled with friends and family. I had never let the control of my special day go long enough to let anyone surprise me (just pretend to be surprised by that, okay? ๐Ÿ˜‰ ), but here when I least expected it and thought I didn’t want it, was everyone I loved in one place here to surprise me–and they did! I had absolutely no idea. I was overwhelmed. I realized in that moment, that even in sorrow and life’s most challenging times, there can be joy, and it is okay to let yourself feel happy, even when your current situation is, well, not.

I looked around the table and saw the effort that my dad had gone to make me feel happy again, and I looked at all of the support and people there who loved me. My friend Charity hadn’t been able to find a ride, so she called a cab to take her 20 miles to be there to celebrate my birthday. Where do friends like that even come from?!

When my dad started to ask about my birthday this year, I was honestly hesitant to go back to Avanti (where I have been every single birthday since then, with the exception of while I was at UI), because to be 100% honest, Italian food kind of stresses me out. Then he said “But it’s the 10 year anniversary of your special surprise party!” And I remembered that incredible night–I couldn’t resist.

This year, in the theme of keeping things small and being able to spend time with more individual, smaller groups, my Avanti dinner consisted of my dad, Hermano, Janie, my grandma, Steve and me. Steve, Hermano and I showed up to a table with balloons on top (including Tigger, and purple and green–my dad definitely remembers details of what people like). We sat down and ordered some drinks while waiting for my dad, grandma and Janie to arrive.

One of my favorite things about Avanti is that they always encourage Hermano to play their piano!

They have a professional that they hire to play on the weekends, but both him and the manager are always asking Hermano to play and making comments about his improvements! Sometimes, I can even be convinced to sing with him. Today, after the rest of the family arrived, we decided to do Coldplay’s Fix You together. By the time we got near the end, all of the memories of my birthday 10 years ago, as well as the friends I was missing flooded back and I started to feel a little emotional–not necessarily in a bad way, I was just caught a little off guard.

I will never forget what my friends and family did for me that year, but it doesn’t always feel quite so fresh, and it was a wonderful reminder of how lucky I am, and how much I have to be thankful for.

This year started out a little bit stressful, but it got better really quickly. Of course, Hermano making fun of our dad helped get me out of the cranky mood I started in.

If you don't know my dad, this will make absolutely no sense. Sorry. If you, do...it's funny, yes?

After hours and hours of waiting pretty soon, my dad, grandma and Janie arrived.

I had no idea what I wanted to order. I wanted pasta, but I figured I needed protein and blah blah blah. I don’t even remember the last time I ordered pasta at a restaurant, but I did. Avanti has the BEST gnocchi. Seriously, they melt in your mouth! I ended up ordering a half order of gnocchi in rosa sauce and a side of roasted veggies in spicy red sauce topped with gorgonzola cheese. Everything was amazing,

I have two plates. I like to have more than one of things ๐Ÿ™‚

I couldn’t finish my pasta because I knew I had to save room for dessert!

For as long as I can remember, my dad has given me the same birthday cake. He asked me years ago what kind of cake I wanted and I replied “Marble cheesecake with an oreo crust.” I am a girl who knows what I like. It is out of this world and it’s been my annual cake ever since.

"I wish...."

You wanna know what’s in that delicious martini glass? White chocolate mint martini. Yes, it is as amazing as it sounds.

After we ate, I opened presents–can you believe I am still getting presents?!

Thanks dad!

YAY!! Compression socks! Thanks Janie!

After presents, we had some fun were completely ridiculous with the balloon clip. We’re really mature in my family.

Yup, that's what I get forever and ever. Excellent choice, self.

Balloon clips are dangerous. They should come with a warning.

Example 2.

My favorite.

It definitely would not have felt right this year without our annual dinner, and I am so grateful for the many opportunities I’ve had this year to spend time with people close to me. Thanks dad for always making me feel super special this time of year! I am a lucky girl!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: Avanti, birthdays, family, food, hermano, restaurants, steve

Birthday Celebration Part 2

February 8, 2012 · by Ari ·

Sunday morning, I had a very exciting date with my friend Christina for a special 90 minute spin class with Linda AKA the best spin teacher ever. I recently found out that the first Sunday of every month, Linda generally does a special 90 minute class and I was super excited! Poor Christina–it was her very first spin class! But she did so AWESOME! She was a champ and made it the entire 90 minutes, after several people had gotten up to leave–get it girl!! I ended up going 34.5 miles that class! I was soooo excited when I saw the screen pass the 30 mile point! Why oh why can’t every spin class be 90 miniutes??

After class I had a few minutes to squeeze in a cup of coffee with Christina (this girl and I have been friends since preschool!) before having to run home. Steve told me I needed to be ready to go by noon and class ended at 10:30. I like to cut things close ๐Ÿ˜‰ At around noon, Hermano, Jason and Nacho arrived and I was told the plan was to ride our bikes to Dilly’s Deli. About 14 miles round trip. Well, okay then! I am not one to say no to outdoor exercise with people I like!

So we were off!

We arrived about 40 minutes later at Dilly’s for lunch. I was starving and couldn’t wait to get my hands on one of their yummy sandwiches!

And here, I am eating the sandwich. Cute, right?

After lunch, we rode home. Oh my gosh, by the end my butt was soooo sore! Sorry for the TMI, but those seats are rough! Steve and I had a little down time, so we went to Goodwill to get some props to improve our food photos, then went to Lululemon because I have gift cards and there is a skirt I’ve had my eye on! Unfortunately, they only had the skirt I wanted in one size and it was not the right one ๐Ÿ™ We came home, made pb&j cookies, and then we were off to meet up with Jason, Nacho and Bethany for dinner!

Steve wouldn’t tell me where we were going to dinner. I had an idea that it would be somewhere from my list of restaurants I want to try, so I was excited when we pulled up to Gallo Blanco. Unfortunately, they decided to close for the day and not put it on their website or answering service. Jerk faces. We ended up heading to Delux Burger which has also been on my list.

I was very happy with the beer selection ๐Ÿ™‚

In case you've never read the blog before, I like my beer dark and sweet! This was half hazlenut brown and half double chocolate stout. Like nutella. Yummmm.

I'm Ari, and this is my beer. We'll be here all night long.

 

Steve got some nasty frilly beer. Obviously, I am the man of this relationship.;)

The food was good, but not amazing. The fries were reallllllyyyy good. We shared a basket that came in a mini shopping cart and they were sweet potato fries with this super yummy mustard sauce. The burger however, was just good. Not bad, but if I were to go back, it’d probably be for just beer and french fries, which is super nutritious in case you didn’t know.

At the end, the waitress surprised by bringing out a sundae with a candle!

Nope, I'm not excited at all.

Luckily, everyone helped me out with this thing! I knew there was still cake at home (oy vey), and this thing was huge! Also, I almost never eat real ice cream. It’s one of those things I just can’t justify, but this was delicious and even with 5 of us, we couldn’t finish it, so I don’t feel so bad ๐Ÿ™‚

Birthdays make me happy!

This guy also makes me happy.

Besties!

After dinner, we headed back to Jason’s house to break out the birthday cake! I had requested my dream cake months ago, and Steve remembered!! A fro yo cake from my very favorite fro yo spot Yogurtology!!! I requested their oatmeal cookie flavor with nutella–my favorite!!!

Amaaaaazzzzing!

This cake had a cookie crust, a layer of nutella on the bottom, and then the oatmeal cookie fro yo on top. It was even more delicious than I had imagined!! And you know what? It cost about $11. Friends, if you’re not going to make the cake yourself, get it from Yogurtology! I still have a couple pieces left, and I do not plan on sharing ๐Ÿ˜‰

Thanks to Steve, Bethy, Jason and Nacho for an amazing friend-day!!! Love you guys!

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: birthdays, cycling, delux burger, dilly's deli, food, friends, hermano, steve, yogurtology

Lisa’s Birthday

December 26, 2011 · by Ari ·

Steve’s mom’s birthday is on Christmas Eve. I personally love it, because Christmas is really his side of the family’s holiday anyway, so we spend December 24th celebrating Lisa and getting ready for Christmas, and then do a huge family celebration on Christmas morning. This year, I started Lisa’s birthday off with a brunch. I made Blueberry Applesauce Muffins by following this recipe almost exactly. They came out soooo yummy!

I also made a Mexican Egg Bake and realized that I need to update my recipe a little bit because I did some things differently, so that will happen soon. It came out delicious and the whole thing was devoured with not a leftover in sight.

And of course I made cupcakes. Salted Caramel Toffee Crunch Cupcakes to be exact (recipe coming soon).

Anyone want to give me some frosting/decorating lessons? In case you've never seen my food before, presentation is not my strong suit haha.

After brunch we all hung around the house for a bit. Hermano had brought over our Christmas presents since we wouldn’t be spending Christmas together, so Steve and I opened our gifts. Let me tell you, my brother totally out did himself this year. Last year he bought me The Cake Bible which was awesome and perfect, but this year his gifts were thoughtful, personal, and no offense to anyone else, but possibly my favorite! The first thing I opened was a gift card, but not just any gift card…

LULULEMON!!!! EEEEEE!!!!! Let me just say that every single person who asked Steve for advice ended up getting me super awesome things. My husband rocks.

But the best part was this:

You can't fake that kind of present excitement, friends.

It’s a personalized water bottle that says “Hermana” on it. I love love love love love it! Anything personalized (not like just my name, but personalized to my relationship with that person, or an inside joke) is the key to my heart. You did good, Hermano. I am such a lucky sister!

Okay, back to the birthday. Sorry, I get on tangents and I can talk about myself for hours. It’s a skill. There I go again ๐Ÿ˜‰ Steve and I took Lisa and Ashleigh to dinner at The Arrogant Butcher. The last time I went to The Arrogant Butcher, I ordered asparagus and a side salad. F you carb diets. This time was sooooo much better! I ordered a turkey sloppy joe on a pretzel bun with sweet potato soup. Hellllllooooo, carbs! Glad we’re BFFs again. I missed you so.

So yummy, but honestly, I would have been happy with a huge bucket of the soup and nothing else. Something about soup with sweet potato, pumpkin, or butternut squash. My favorite.

I really love this guy. In case you didn't know ๐Ÿ˜‰

Lisa might end up super mad at me for posting this picture, but I love it. She cracks me up.

I mean, really the whole napkin on your shirt thing is smart. Do you have any idea how much I end up spilling on myself on a daily basis? Just me? Oh, whoops....

They even brought her out a free birthday dessert! You know me and free ๐Ÿ™‚ Seriously delicious peanut butter cup.

mmmmmmmmm

Lisa has treated me like a part of her family since the moment Steve brought me into his life. I am so grateful to be a part of such an incredible family, and I am so happy to have the most wonderful second mom a girl could ask for! Happy birthday Lisa!

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: birthdays, family, hermano, the arrogant butcher

Steak, Potatoes and Beer, Oh My

December 26, 2011 · by Ari ·

I am a person who loves to be busy. Some may say I’m a workaholic, but I am MORE than happy to keep busy by celebrating and spending time with family and friends. Is there a job where they pay you to do that? I think what I do is actually probably as close as you get. Lucky me ๐Ÿ™‚

Let’s catch up, shall we? 2 days before Christmas started out with the 2nd to last long run Kara and I will do before PF Chang’s. We planned for 10, but Kara has been sick for like 2 months straight and after 8 she just wasn’t feeling it, so we ended up walking the last 2 miles home. At this point, we’re ready and the ending walk where we were just able to chat felt really nice actually. We ended up covering just under 10 miles total in about 2 hours. Still not too shabby.

The past few weeks after my long run, I’ve had the craziest cravings for steak. I don’t really eat red meat, but the evening after a run, all I want to eat is a big, juicy fillet! Well, Friday night I finally got what I had been craving! Kara, Charlie and Hermano met us at our house before heading out to Whole Foods to pick out our meat and our drinks. I love the type of dinner party where everyone picks their own meat, Steve grills it all up and I make the side dish. So simple, and much cheaper than trying to buy steak for everyone (ummm Steve’s steak was $30).

Hermano and I each picked out a fillet, although his was 13 oz and mine was 6 haha. Steve and Kara both picked out massive rib eyes. Charlie picked out some chicken, and Hermano also picked up a pound of macaroni and cheese because he was skeptical about the side dish I had planned.

Kara and I also picked out some cherry stout and cappuccino stout. Delicious.

As soon as we were home and we had popped open our beers, Steve fired up the grill and I got to work on the taters.

Hard at work. Obviously. I actually think I was trying to put my hair up, maybe?

Soon enough, dinner was served!

That, my friends, is what a 1.3lb piece of meat looks like.

Hermano's pound of steak and pound of macaroni.

After trying my Maple Bacon Sweet Potatoes (don’t you worry, recipe is coming soon), Hermano regretted his decision not to get some himself, so 2 lbs of food later, he went back to get some.

Yes, that is the pan I cooked them in. Apparently I need to hit my growth spurt so I can polish off pounds of food at a time and still be thin.

Then, 2 beers later (apparently I’m a light weight because that was seriously all I could handle), we were watching The Muppets Christmas Carol and I decided to make dessert. Very tipsy, recipe-less dessert. I didn’t measure a single thing and I thought it was going to be a disaster, but the entire 8×8 pan was gone in about 10 minutes flat. No pictures. No recipe. Sad day. I do remember it included mashed banana, caramel and white chocolate chips. Maybe one day I’ll try to recreate it ๐Ÿ™‚

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: bacon, beer, friends, half marathon training, hermano, running, steak, steve, sweet potatoes

Christmas Lights

December 20, 2011 · by Ari ·

I’m sure I’ve mentioned about a zillion times that I have a thing for lights. Christmas lights are something I’ve looked forward to every year for as long as I can remember. Even my super Jewish dad used to drive me around to see all the lights because I went nuts for it! This year we’ve gone to a few locations, most notably this super awesome house on 44th St and Camelback, and this whole amazing street off just north-east of Country Club and Guadalupe. AZ folks, check it out. So for your entertainment this evening, I provide you

1) Hermano playing the Coldplay song Christmas Lights on the piano.

And

2) Super awesome Christmas light pictures.

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: christmas, christmas lights, hermano, holidays

Hermano’s Orchestra Concert

December 14, 2011 · by Ari ·

Wow. That’s about all I can say. I’ve been going to school orchestra concerts for 5 years since Jacob was in 4th grade. I remember his very first ones. They had to make sure each group only actually played for about 15 minutes, otherwise it would have been really hard to sit through! I remember when he started Jr high, all of the sudden the caliber was upped a few hundred notches. His jazz band won competitions. He played in the top orchestra. They were pretty legit. This is his first year in high school and unfortunately most of his concerts take place while I am in rehearsal. Luckily, his final concert of the season happened on an off night for me, and again, all I can say is wow.

He is one of the only freshman in the top orchestra and he has the second chair seat. As if that weren’t impressive enough, this group is fantastic. They sound like a polished recording. I watched and listened to this concert in awe of all of the potential filling the stage, and my eyes filling with tears from the overwhelming sense of pride I felt. Let me also say that I am not easily impressed. In fact, I am known for being kind of a snobby brat when it comes to the arts (I have to watch talent tv alone because no one will watch with me), but this concert was just so incredible.

Their first number was by far my favorite!

I am a proud big sister, let me tell you!

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: family, hermano, orchestra

Mi Hermano: The Rock Star!

October 6, 2011 · by Ari ·

So, in case you weren’t aware, my brother is pretty much a rock star. He is an incredible musician and plays piano, bass, guitar, and can make his way around a drum set. Up until the 2 of us, there wasn’t really anyone in our family that pursues performing arts, and then my dad got a musical theatre performer/director/choreographer and a multi instrument musician! Good thing we don’t come from one of those crazy families where we are considered failures if we’re not doctors and lawyers. Quite the opposite–we are lucky to have a really supportive family and each other to make music with (when my crazy schedule allows). I can’t imagine a scenario I’d rather sing in than with this awesomely talented (and hilarious) 14 year old! Last night he had his first high school performance. He is one of the only freshman in the top jazz band, and he is also in the top orchestra. Steve tested out the video on his camera and got this amazing video of them playing. You can’t really see Jacob because the bass position is all the way in the back and he is just beginning his growth spurt (he is finally taller than me and it makes me sad–and he won’t let me forget it either!) So if you have some time, take a look/listen. They’re pretty fantastic in my biased opinion ๐Ÿ™‚

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: family, hermano, music

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